Class as a K-Stater

It's days like these where I am glad to be involved in agriculture. At K-State University I am taking the advanced beef science class. Each week we look at a different area of beef production by going out to visit and tour ranches and feedlots or having guests come to our class. This week we had a guest veterinarian, Dr Luis Mendonca from Brazil. 

Dr. Mendonca took us through the different types of calf malpresentations that are possible and demonstrated how to correct these positions to assist in what is hopefully a successful birth. I was really impressed by the demonstration unit that he had as we got to get some hands on action and have a go ourselves. 

It was really great to learn the techniques for correcting malpresentations, given that this procedure needs to be done in a short amount of time and when often when Murphy's Law comes in to play (i.e. when the vet is on another call!)

*this calf was already deceased and was not harmed in this procedure

Family Easter on an American family ranch

This Easter was a little different to the easter I am used to back in Australia. To start off with, the season is spring, rather than autumn and so there isn't the camping and fishing like there is back where I am on the coast of NSW. Instead, there is a ham and egg decorating!

I was fortunate enough to spend my Easter with a ranching and feedlot family in Emporia in eastern Kansas. They gave me a great American family easter experience. It is these types of experiences that I am so grateful for, because no matter how much money you spend on a trip or a tour, you won't get the first hand experiences of American life like I have been fortunate enough to have.

Decorated Eggs

In America, Good Friday and Easter Monday are not recognised as public holidays, which is one of the main reasons that it is not as big of a holiday as what it is in Australia. Good Friday, for my host family and myself, was celebrated with a 'Pot Luck' dinner and Mass. A 'Pot Luck' dinner, is simply where everyone brings a main or dessert to share. It was really lovely to meet some of the people from the surrounding communities of Emporia.

Easter Saturday I rose early to help feed the cattle in the feedlot. My hosts own some of their own cattle on feed, as well as custom fed cattle as well. It was a beautiful morning and they really took the time to tell me how they run their operation. Very early that morning a load of steers had arrived for feeding all the way from Georgia on the east coast. One thing that I will remember, is how many states these US cattle see in their lifetimes.

Doing the morning rounds on Easter Saturday

In Emporia, I rode with the daughters in to town where we went to a bridal and formal and shop so that the youngest daughter could have a prom dress fitting, then went to the rural produce store (which is like a hardware store, produce store and western clothing store all in one).

These Formal dresses are everywhere. It's just like the movies...and a nice change from dirt and dust sometimes!!

We went to the David Traylor Zoo in Emporia, where I saw the iconic American Bald Eagle and some other animals, such as a raccoon, bobcat, vultures and bison.

Bobcat

Bald Eagle. Fun fact: their white feathers on their head does not appear until they reach 4 or 5 years of age.

I also visited some nice spots such as the Cottonwood River, and a great little chocolate shop in Emporia.

The falls on the Cottonwood River

Saturday afternoon was spent dyeing and decorating Easter eggs, which is a tradition that most American families do. They are then hidden for the children the next morning. You're never to old to be a kid right?

These are some of the eggs that we decorated.

Easter Sunday was spent with Mass and then an hour and a half drive to Wichita which is a city in south east Kansas, where we met up with some more of my hosts family and had lunch.

Some popular confectionery at Easter time in America.

On my way back to Manhattan from Wichita, we stopped at some small little country towns along the way and enjoyed a beautiful drive through the iconic limestone Flint Hills- some of the best grazing cattle country in the nation.

Some cattle grazing the Flint Hills.

Some of the limestone rocks that lay on the surface of the Flint Hills.

Cottonwood Falls is a very small town with an impressive Court House.

See if you can spot me in standing in front of the Cottonwood Falls Court House.

We pulled in to visit the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

This house was built back in the 1800's. 

An American barn built back in the 1800's for cattle in the winter. You can see the ramps running up to the upper level for the livestock.

I am still buzzing from my great weekend, a family easter on a family ranch. You can't beat it.

Easter Sunday photos with two lovely girls- Sarah and Arissa. 

Keeping up with agriculture in Kansas

I cannot believe it is already the second term of the Spring semester! I've been keeping very busy with bull sales, feedlot and seedstock visits and classes.

I headed back to Haviland, Kansas to attend the Sandhill Farms annual Bull and Female Sale last weekend. It was great to see the end result, having been there for some of the preparation beforehand. I have a full appreciation for breeders that hold their own sales like this!

This is the sale arena at the Schultz's Sandhill Farms sale. I even got a mention in Kevin Schultz's opening speech!
(Photo supplied by Vera Schultz)

Sitting up watching the sale. Combine a fast-paced auctioneer, some good ring men,  and strong competition and it makes for a good sale! (Photo supplied by Vera Schultz)

 In the beef science class that I am taking this semester, we travel each week to visit different areas of the beef supply chain, as well as have guest speakers come in to present to us about the industry. This term, we have visited the Tiffany Cattle Co feedlot operation, Fink Beef Genetics seedstock operation and Larry Cohar, Vice President of Certified Angus Beef (CAB) spoke to us about marketing beef.

Tiffany Cattle Co. is run by two brothers, Shawn and Shane Tiffany. They run a custom fed feedlot of a maximum capacity of 15, 000 hd. Their story up until where they are know is quite interesting and inspiring. They were K-State graduates and worked in various areas of agriculture before both becoming the owners and managers of their own feedlot. 

This feedlot is quite unique! It is built on an American Army Corp airstrip from WWII. They have made good use of the existing concrete and built pens off the airstrip, leaving wide aprons on the inside of the pens. Consequently, the feedlot is triangular in shape rather than having traditional rows. 

It was a pretty cold day! The pens have a lot of slope because of the snow, wind and rain! 

This is Larry Corah, the Vice President of Certified Angus Beef. I have had the pleasure to meet Larry on a couple of occasions now. His presentation about branding of beef was interesting and the class participated in some marketing activities with him.

Since you have been in college....
the value of cattle in America have increased dramatically.

 Larry really put the value of cattle at the present in to perspective. Most of us get to our fourth year of university and realise that the time has flown by. This showed just how quickly, the value of cattle increased to be at extreme highs this year. There has been an increase in cull cow prices by 129% over the past four years!! There are a lot of producers sending cows to feedlots given their value. Corn is relatively cheap at the moment so there is a fairly inexpensive cost of gain at the moment.

 We had the opportunity to visit a highly regarded family and their ranch last week. Mr and Mrs Gaylen and Lori Fink, go by the name of Fink Beef Genetics, and run an Angus and Charolais seedstock operation. Their story began as a young couple making their way into the beef industry in 1977 with one Angus cow. They leased the land that they required and bought in feed. They now sell breeding cattle nation wide, embryos world wide and sell over 700 bulls a year. Gaylen emphasised how important it is to think outside of the square, have no limitations to your thinking and be different!

This is Gaylen Fink talking to our class at their sale centre. He gave us a brief of his operation, but what was more valuable was getting some great advice from someone who started with something so small! 

This is my beef systems management class! 

 The Flint Hills is a region in Kansas that contains the last of the tallgrass prairie and prime grazing land. Manhattan happens to fall within the borders of this limestone based land. Each spring, the Flint Hills are burned as part of grazing and noxious weed management. It is so far widespread across the state that there is a constant haze. I went and visited a prairie reserve, where some of the burning had taken place. The landscape sure is something to be seen!

One of the many views at the Konza Prairie Biological Station.

The track at the Konza is almost 10km. It was well worth the long stroll! 

While I only have a month left here at K-State, be sure to keep up with my blogs! There's still so much to do. Next up is Dodge City, KS for a beef production tour!

Ranch life at Sandhill Farms

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend spring break at Sandhill Farms, a Hereford seedstock operation in Haviland, Kansas. Sandhill Farms is owned and run by the Schultz family, of which I attend Kansas State University with Tyler and Courtney, who are both studying Animal Science.

The Schultz Family. Such wonderful people! From L-R: Courtney Schultz, Brooke Warner (nee Schultz), Travis Warner, Tyler Schultz, Georgie Lawrence, Kevin Schultz and Vera Schultz.

At this time of year for the Schultz's, the calving season is coming to an end just as sale season is beginning! There is a lot of preparation that goes in to the Sandhill Farms annual production sale, selling bulls and females as well as commercial hereford and black baldie heifers. 

As I mentioned, it is bull sale season and the week started off with a short trip to Claflin, Kansas to attend B & D Herefords and Beran Bros. Angus bull and female sale.

Bull Sale Season!

The sale was held as a video auction where cattle were shown on a pre-recorded video and auctioned off accordingly. 

Rather than bringing the cattle into the barn, they were displayed on these television screens.

Some of the commercial cattle on the TV screens up for auction. The black baldie is a popular cross in this area.    

Days were spent checking cows that were due for calving, sorting through bulls for semen testing, vaccinating cows and sorting and tagging sale heifers. I also had the opportunity to go to the local sale barn as well as ride around with Kevin and Tyler, showing bulls to clients and learning about how they evaluate their bulls. Almost every day consisted of three jumpers, thermal underwear, a pair of gloves and a cold Kansas wind, but it was great fun!!

Moving some of the sale bulls.

This is what they call a semi in the US. The height of the crate from the ground is adjustable to allow for variation in slope when backing up to a chute, which I thought was pretty neat. 

This is Courtney guiding her grandfather Ron Schultz in to the chute before loading bulls.  

These corrals are portable and are a common sight about Kansas.

These are some of the Sandhill Farms commercial sale heifers on offer in the upcoming annual sale. I  caught them at feed time!

I went to the weekly cattle sale held in Pratt, Kansas and watched the sale of some young cattle. I was astounded at the money that young heifers made or at least for those that I saw being sold. Cattle prices are very high in the US at the present with the cattle population at a low since the 1940's. Young black baldie heifers with an average weight of 859 lbs (390 kg) brought US$1308/head. 

Young black baldie heifers at 839 lbs (390 kg) were making roughly US$1300/hd.

    At the beginning I could barely follow the auctioneer! Have a listen to this!

                        

               

I found the set up of the sale barn interesting. It was like I was sitting up ready to watch a movie at the cinema....only not. 

I got the opportunity to take so many photos on the beautiful Sandhill Farms property as well as see some American wildlife! Here are some of my favourites.

The heifer paddock at sunset.

This is an old American barn on the Sandhill Farms property.

My first sighting of an Armadillo!

This skunk didn't stink...which is rare so I'm told.

        

Driving on the wrong side of the road in a pickup!

A couple of the many calves born this season. These two were just chillin'.

It isn't called Sandhill Farms for nothing.

The sunsets. They were just beautiful.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience an American ranch this past week. The Schultz's are a wonderful family who run a very neat seedstock operation. It will certainly be one of my favourite experiences and memories to take back to Australia with me!

The K-State Legacy Sale - Bull & Female Sale

Last Friday, March 7th, Kansas State University purebred beef unit held their 37th Annual Bull and Female Sale comprising of Angus, Hereford and Simmental cattle. As part of the Livestock Sales Management class that I have been taking this term, the students were involved with the sale and the events leading up to and after the sale.

The 2014 Livestock Sales Management Class 
(Photo courtesy of Impressions By Brittney)

The sale is held to coincide with Cattlemen's Day, of which, this year was the 101st annual event. Cattlemen's Day included a trade show held in the Weber Arena in addition to information sessions that ran throughout the day. Some of the sessions included topics such as the 'Future of beef export demand' and the 'Cattle industry outlook'.

Dr. Dan Moser answering some great questions about Estimated Progeny Differences (EPD'S) at The Legacy Sale booth at the Cattlemen's Day trade show.

The trade show held in Weber Arena, with a live stream of the information sessions that were held in the lecture theatres.

From the 61 bulls that were offered, the averages are as follows:

• 35 Angus bulls/ US$4150
• 16 Simmental bulls/ US$3656
• 10 Hereford bulls/ US$3550

(The Stock Exchange, 2014). 

Salo! Salo! Salo! 61 bulls, 4 elite heifers, 17 females and 5 ranch horses were offered for sale.

I have a short video of the auction. I have to admit that I wasn't quite prepared for the 'entertainment' that the ringmen brought even though they were just doing their job. To all of my Australian friends - it's worth the watch to see how it is done in America!

And of course, what is a K-State event without Willie? Willie the Wildcat is the K-State mascot and he even made an appearance on Sale Day.

Willie the Wildcat, KSU Mascot made an appearance at the sale.